BOSTON, Mass. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Cancer affects everyone. Either you’ve personally battled it, know someone who has, or have lost a loved one to this disease. Last year alone, almost two million people were told they have cancer. Almost 610,000 people succumbed to it. Early detection is key to survival, and now, what’s being considered the “holy grail” of cancer screening could diagnose some cancers earlier than ever before.
Mammograms, colonoscopies, pap smears, CT scans —millions of people are screened for cancer each year. But still, 70% of cancers don’t have screening tests —until now!
Elizabeth O’Donnell, MD, Director of Early Detection and Prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute explained, “It’s a novel technology that enables one to potentially screen an individual’s blood for up to 50 different types of cancer.”
The Grail Galleri test is one of the first blood test that looks for fragments of DNA circulating in the bloodstream and scans for markers that might have come from a tumor cell. Cancer screening
“It uses your blood to look for signatures that may be indicative of a cancer,” said Dr. O’Donnell.
By using two test tubes of a patient’s blood, Dr. O’Donnell can see if cancer signals are present. A positive test means a signal that is associated with cancer has been found but it does not mean you have cancer, and patients should be further evaluated.
“The intent of all of these liquid biopsies is really to try and find these earlier stage, so stage one and stage two cancers,” explained Dr. O’Donnell.
This will lead to catching cancers early, so treatment can start sooner, and more lives can be saved.
The multi-cancer early detection or MCED test made by Grail is the first MCED test to be laboratory approved. The test is intended for people who are over 50. It is not recommended for people under age 21. The test is not yet approved by the FDA and is not yet covered by health insurance. It’s available by prescription only and costs about a $1,000.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
To receive a free weekly e-mail on medical breakthroughs from Ivanhoe, sign up at: http://www.ivanhoe.com/ftk
Source:
https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21763
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO https://www.dana-farber.org/cancer-care/treatment/early-detection-interception
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com
